The voters in the rural areas of the Haines Borough have spoken, and they’re not interested in on-call service by the townsite police department, even at the relatively low starting price of $70,000. Does this mean residents in outlying areas don’t want police, or that they don’t want to pay for it? It’s difficult to know, but a good rule…
Let’s have a round of applause for the Chilkoot Indian Association. While no one was paying much attention, the Haines-based tribe did as much for public recreation as has been done in a decade or more. The CIA recently completed two miles of trails and boardwalk that snakes through the wetlands across the Old Haines Highway from the Haines School.…
Should the Haines Borough build a new assembly chambers attached to the public library? That’s the question that’s before the Haines Borough Assembly during its next two meetings. If you have an opinion, get hold of an assembly member or show up at the assembly meetings Nov. 6 and Dec. 4. On a 3-3 tied vote broken by an affirmative…
Christy Tengs Fowler wants to be done with the Pioneer Bar and Bamboo Room. Many people think the Haines Borough shouldn’t be awarding grants to nonprofits using tax dollars. Here’s an idea. A generous benefactor or the Haines Borough buys the bar-restaurant and gives it to an existing or new nonprofit. That nonprofit takes over the business, with proceeds after…
I urge fellow residents of the rural areas of the Haines Borough to vote against expanding police service to the town’s road limits. Although the ballot proposition calls for only “on-call” service at $70,000 per year, the recent history of the Haines police reflects a desire for more officers and a bigger budget. Starting two years ago, borough police have…
The Haines Borough Assembly has little choice but to pursue suspension or revocation of the Alaska Excursions tour permit for canoe tours at Davidson Glacier. The assembly also should consider suspending the company’s ATV tour at Glacier Point. Detailed and unsolicited statements made to the assembly by a dozen or more former employees in February established that Alaska Excursions has…
There are at least 8 good reasons to vote “yes” on Ballot Initiative #1 in the Haines municipal election Oct. 2. Voting “yes” would allow you, a voter registered in Haines, to elect members of Public Safety and Planning Commissions, Tourism Advisory Board and Ports and Harbor Advisory Committee. 1) As a Haines voter, you should have the right to…
“We are going to fight like crazy to get that trooper position back.” – State Sen. Dennis Egan, in a front-page story in the Chilkat Valley News, Jan. 19, 2017 Did Dennis Egan really fight like crazy to restore the Haines state trooper position eliminated in December 2016 by a trooper bureaucrat? Maybe, maybe not. But a better question is:…
The Haines Borough is discussing options for public safety outside the townsite in response to the elimination of Alaska State Trooper (blue-shirt) service in January, 2017. (The troopers have maintained Haines wildlife trooper Trent Chwialkowski, who responds to local crimes as his time allows). The borough’s options include lobbying candidates for state office for resumption of blue-shirt trooper service, pursuing…
Preventing littering and providing public safety outside the Haines townsite are right and worthy goals. How best to achieve those goals is the issue before the Haines Borough Assembly. The borough administration has proposed a major restructuring of local garbage service, including a 1 percent hike in sales tax and borough participation in waste management, in order to eliminate the…